Many wonderful fantasy films contained the incredible special
effects and stop-motion animation - and lifelike creatures of Ray
Harryhausen, a protege of Willis O'Brien. He pioneered the development
of a split-screen technique called Dynamation -- (rear projection
on overlapping miniature screens) -- that brought real-life to combined
scenes of animation and live-action.

Often partnered with Charles H. Schneer, his classic
films with stop-motion animation and other special effects included: The
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) (his first solo film), It
Came From Beneath the Sea (1955), 20 Million Miles to Earth
(1957), all the Sinbad films (including The 7th Voyage of
Sinbad (1958) - Harryhausen's first split-screen film shot entirely
in color, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), and Sinbad
and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)), The Three Worlds of Gulliver
(1959), Mysterious Island (1961), Jason and the Argonauts
(1963) - with the spectacular stop-motion sword-wielding skeletons
scene, The First Men in the Moon (1964), and most recently, Clash
of the Titans (1981).

Destination Moon (1950)

Here was a pioneering
science-fiction adventure film, and winner of the Best Achievement
in Special Effects Academy Award, with an ingenious use of models
(i.e., a realistic moonscape), by producer George Pal. This was
Pal's second full-length live-action feature - about the first
spaceship flight to the Moon. (In addition, Woody Woodpecker made
an appearance to explain how rockets function.)

Later Pal films
included: The War of the Worlds (1953) and The Time Machine
(1960), featuring time-lapse photography.

The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951)

This classic science-fiction film featured
state-of-the-art visual effects and seamless model miniatures.

It was also the first science-fiction film to feature "flying
saucers" and the first true robot, Gort.

When Worlds Collide (1951)

The
winner of the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Special Effects.

This
sci-fi disaster film was producer George Pal's follow-up film to Destination
Moon (1950) - with a mediocre story that had spectacular special
effects, including a great fireball - a sun-sized body called Bellus
- hurtling toward earth, and a rocket-propelled spaceship built on
a ramp.

Bwana Devil (1952)

Bwana Devil was an exploitative jungle adventure film - noted as the first
3-D feature-length, commercially-released color (and sound) film ever made
- from an independent studio. The film featured man-eating Tsavo lions
leaping toward the camera and flying spears thrown out of the screen.

The gimmicky 3-D effect required
that the viewer wear special polarization glasses, unlike anaglyphic
3-D that required red/blue glasses to be worn. 3-D technology was employed
to try to combat the encroaching competition of television on the film
industry.

The first film using the three-strip cinerama process
was This is Cinerama (1952), a travelogue of the world's vacation
spots, with a thrilling roller-coaster ride. Although there were
a few successful box-office Cinerama hits in the 1950s, the
process was ultimately abandoned because its novelty wore off and
the equipment and construction of special theatres was too cost-prohibitive
and cumbersome.

House of Wax (1953)

Andre de Toth's horror film from Warner Bros. had the extra
added attraction of being filmed in 3-D - and it was highly successful. It
was the first 3-D color feature film released by a major American studio.

It
was a more expensive remake of their earlier Mystery of the Wax Museum
(1933), with Vincent Price establishing himself forever after as
the quintessential horror villain.

Although this was a horror film, the most remembered 3-D
scene in the film was the paddle-ball sequence in which a huckster (Reggie
Rymal) in front of the newly-opened "House of Wax" kept swatting at a
ball attached by a string to a paddle. He spoke at the theatre audience
and noted:

Come in, come in, come in, ladies and gentlemen. See
the House of Wax. See the Chamber of Horrors. Here's three lovely
little ladies right over here. Would you like to see Little Egypt?
Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, Little Egypt, Queen of the Harem,
who danced at the Colombian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. Is she wax,
or is she flesh and blood. See the world in wax, the Hall of Fame,
the Chamber of Horrors. A cultural exhibition that'll enlighten you,
amaze you...

Watch it, young lady.
Careful, sir, keep your head down or I'll tap you on the chin. Look
out! Duck. (He turned to other customers behind him) Wow, that's a
becoming hat you're wearing, madam. I wonder if I can clip the flower
off it. Hold steady now, don't move your head, or you'll lose the powder
off your nose. Wow, there's someone with a bag of popcorn. Close your
mouth. It's the bag I'm aiming at, not your tonsils. Here she comes.
Well, look at that, it's in the bag. See the lovely centers of ancient
times, ladies and gentlemen. Beauties who died and tortured out on the
block. Visit our "Chamber
of Horrors" and
pass the time of day with notorious murderers who killed with the rope,
the knife, and the axe. Thrills, chills, a lot of dirt for a price within
the reach of all.

The Robe (1953)

When Cinerama and stereoscopic 3-D died almost as soon as
they were initiated, 20th Century Fox's CinemaScope became cheaper
and more convenient because it used a simple anamorphic lens to
create a widescreen effect. The aspect ratio (width to height) of CinemaScope was 2.35:1. The special lenses for the new process were based on a French
system developed by optical designer Henri Chretian.

The first film released commercially in CinemaScope
was 20th Century Fox's and director Henry Koster's Biblical sword-and-sandal
epic The Robe (1953).
It debuted in New York at the Roxy Theater in September of 1953.

This
film was the winner of the Best Achievement in Special Effects Academy
Award, by producer George Pal, for its vivid depiction of the invasion
of the Earth by Martians. This was the first visual effects-laden "popcorn"
film, featuring vibrant color special effects, and the destruction of
various cities and landmarks, including the famous Los Angeles Courthouse
Building.

[This film would inspire such films as Independence
Day (1996) and Steven Spielberg's remake War of the Worlds (2005).]

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

This classic Universal horror film effectively used a
foam-latex costume suit to represent the amphibious creature called the
Gill-Man - one of the most famous movie monsters ever created.

Dial M for Murder (1954)

In Hitchcock's classic thriller, Tony Wendice (Ray
Milland) blackmailed Captain Swann/Lesgate (Anthony Dawson), a former
classmate with a criminal record, to commit the "perfect murder"
- the killing of his wealthy wife Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) in
order to inherit her fortune. She was engaged in an affair with mystery
writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings).

During the attempted strangulation scene, the tension
was ratcheted up. Tony's plan was to have his wife leave her bedroom
to answer the living room phone, to enable Lesgate to strangle her
from behind the window curtains where he was hiding. Tony dialed the
number, but because his watch had unexpectedly stopped, he was about
eight minutes too late. The assassin was frazzled and about to leave
because of the delay.

When the phone finally rang, the camera panned around
Margot as she answered. The camera moved to view Lesgate's position
behind the curtains. Reflections from the fireplace played upon the
walls in the darkened room. Lesgate approached with a twisted stocking
and wrapped it around her neck. But she foiled his strong attack.

There was the tremendous 3-D effect of Margot reaching
back behind her - into the audience from the screen - searching for
a weapon (a pair of scissors) to defend herself and kill the assassin
by stabbing him in the back. When he fell to the floor onto his back,
the blades of the scissors were pushed more deeply into his body.

Gojira (1954, Jp.) (aka Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956))

Although the special effects weren't exactly revolutionary,
they were influential, nonetheless, in this story about a giant monster
awakened, irradiated and mutated by atomic H-Bomb tests in the ocean.

The effects were created by animatronic models, miniatures
of the city of Tokyo, and by a man in a 6 and 1/2 foot lizard suit
(framed with wires and bamboo sticks covered in latex).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

The
fanciful Richard Fleischer-directed Disney film based upon the Jules
Verne book of the same name, with James Mason as Captain Nemo, won
the Academy Award for Special Effects.

It was notable for its depiction
of the Nautilus and the giant squid fight.

One of the other
nominated films in the category was Them! (1954), a typical
mid-50s B-monster film with giant ants invading Los Angeles.

Conquest of Space (1955)

This was FX artist George Pal's and director Byron Haskin's
semi-documentary, visionary sci-fi story about a dangerous spaceship journey
to the planet of Mars, following Pal's success with Destination Moon
(1950), When Worlds Collide (1951), and The War of the Worlds
(1953).

The opening voice-over narration of this Paramount
Technicolored film proclaimed: "This is a story of tomorrow,
or the day after tomorrow...', and the film's tagline stated: "See
How It Will Happen...In Your Lifetime." The film's science
was based directly on rocket scientist Wernher von Braun's writings
and designs in Collier's Magazine.

Although a box-office flop with some hokey special
effects, some of the more impressive ones including a modified V-2
rocket transporting astronauts into space, a circular spinning space
station ("The
Wheel"),
interstellar vehicles, astronauts with full-pressured suits doing space
walks, and the Martian landscape.

This cerebral 1950's science-fiction film by director
Joseph M. Newman required various special effects, including:

a flying
saucer

its landing on the doomed planet Metaluna

Both were created with models and special camera techniques.

It also necessitated
alien makeup for the big-headed Metalunans, and futuristic set designs.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

One of the landmark science-fiction films of the 50s
was this classic space adventure film from director Fred Wilcox -
an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. It was the first
science-fiction film in color and CinemaScope. Its Oscar-nominated
Special Effects included miniatures (e.g., the spaceship), innovative
set and art decoration (with soundstage scenic paintings), and matte
paintings to create the alien environment of Altair IV.

It also included the famed friendly servant prop (probably
the most expensive, intricately-wired film prop ever constructed at
the time (at $125,000)) -- Robby the Robot, also used as a prop in
MGM's The Invisible Boy (1957) a year later. The film also featured
an all-electronic music score.

One of the best remembered segments was the 'animated'
night attack (using hand-drawn cel animation) of the ID monster on
the flying saucer spaceship - in actuality, it was displaying Dr. Morbius'
(Walter Pidgeon as Prospero) face-to-face encounter with his own projected
sub-conscious, incestuous feelings for his lovely young daughter Altaira
(Anne Francis).

The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

Director Frank Tashlin, a former cartoonist, created
a satirical mid-50s film that was most memorable for the role played
by buxom blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield, with a shapely hourglass
figure.

However, it was also known for its unique opening or
preamble, in which one of the film's stars, a bow-tied Tom Ewell, opened
the film by walking out onto a open stage to speak to the camera (and
break the fourth wall) and to introduce the feature. The background
was an abstract landscape with musical instruments floating in space.

Annoyed with the small sized B/W picture, he astonished
audiences by literally stretching the black edges of the boxy black
and white picture - opening the viewable picture up into the wider,
rectangular Cinemascope aspect ratio. And then he commanded that the
picture change from B/W to Technicolor - "gorgeous life-like color
by DeLuxe." [Note: The same joke to open up the screen (for Odorama)
was used in John Waters' Polyester (1981) - in homage to this
film.]

The film ended with a similar cartoonish bit by the other
major male star, Edmond O'Brien, who like the cartoon Porky Pig ("That's
all folks!") stepped through the enclosing frame of the final
shot, walked forward through the black, now-empty space behind him
to directly address the audience.

The film won
the Best Achievement in Special Effects Academy Award. It was Cecil
B. DeMille's remake of his own 1923 silent film, with one of the
most miraculous visual effects scenes in film history (and the most
expensive special effects to date) -- the parting of the Red Sea.

The scene (before the days of digital effects) was prefaced
by Moses' (Charlton Heston) statement: "The
Lord of Hosts will do battle for us. Behold his mighty hand." It involved
the use of miniatures, pyrotechnics, traveling matte paintings, rear-projection,
and a 32-foot high dam or water tank churning out the waterfall. The
effect of the sea's parting was created by pouring 300,000
gallons of water into a tank and then playing the shot backward.

Other special effects scenes included the various plagues,
the Burning Bush, etc.; in the massive Exodus sequence, compositing
was used to multiply the number of extras in the crowd.

Darby O'Gill and the Little
People (1959)

In-camera effects in this live-action fantasy, a Walt
Disney production directed by Robert Stevenson, included the 'trick'
of forced perspective depth effects. This was at a time in cinematic
history when Disney Studios maintained its own in-house special effects
department.

Full-sized Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) appeared to be
walking and conversing with live leprechauns (two feet high), although
in actuality, it was a magical movie-camera trick. Darby was positioned
closer to the camera in the foreground, to make him appear larger,
while the 'little people' were placed at a distance in relation to
him, to appear smaller.

This special-effects technique required an
increased depth of field, and intense lighting to be effective. The
effect eliminated post-production optical patching, and grainy images
and matte lines were not evident as well. The most spectacular scene
was one in which hundreds of leprechauns danced and raced on white
ponies around Darby.

Also notable were the scenes of the banshee (a
ghostly luminous figure) and the death coach with the headless horseman.

The same perspective depth technique was used in The
Never Ending Story (1984) in the scene of young Atreyu (Noah
Hathaway) with two gnome characters (Sydney Bromley as Engywook,
and Patricia Hayes as wife Urgl).